[MUD-Dev] Re: You think users won't number crunch and statis

[Shawn Halpenny]

On Mon, Jul 13, 1998 at 01:13:33PM -0700, Adam Wiggins wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Jul 1998, Matt Chatterley wrote:
> > Right. I also feel that replacing the numbers with more descriptive information
> > is conducive to a different approach to gaming (more below). It also (to my
> > mind) makes it 'friendlier' to those who are unaccustomed with this type of
> > game, and requires less instruction - "My strength is 18? What does that
> > /mean/?" versus "Okay, so I'm very strong.." (of course, the logical
> > continuation is similar, since it is ".. compared to what?").
> 
> This is, IMO, a larger problem of establishing a frame of reference.  You
> need to do this for ALL elements in your world, not just numerical stats -
> although those can be the easiest.  For example:
> 
> % stats
> You are a female ogre.
> You are very strong compared to most ogres.
> You are very intelligent compared to most ogres.

I've been thinking of maintaining a running, weighted average across all
(N)PCs' numerical attributes to give the frame of reference needed to
output something like that as well.  I suppose there would be a sort of
master ogre object that simply exists to collect and average the stats
for ogres and is compared against whenever an ogre is statted.

Given that, however, I'm not sure how to justify:  The world is full of
newbie ogres (i.e. most with low stats).  Bubba has already been playing
his ogre for a while, so he's very strong compared to most other ogres. 
He doesn't login for 4 months, but the majority of the other PC ogres are
avid players and considerably advance their characters in his absence. 
When Bubba returns he discovers instantaneously (at least, as soon as he
first stats himself) that he is no longer very strong compared to most
ogres.  

While the situation is not technically a problem it implies the existence
of some master stat keeper, external to characters, that I'd rather they
not be aware of.  Ideally, Bubba should be his own master stat keeper
and the averages should only be adjusted and based on other ogres with whom
Bubba is frequently in contact with.  However, I don't want to have to
track all that information.

Any opinions on how the storage requirements of the second choice would
compare against the information overexposure of the first?  I suspect a
number of people would be bothered by the first once they realized that's
how it works...

--
Shawn Halpenny

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but,
I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.